The Air Force is trying to figure out how to best share F-35 mission data files with international partners as the service approaches its August-December initial operational capability (IOC) window.

Air Forces Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian said Thursday the service wants to be able to have a common operational picture with partners while in flight. To do this, he said there are some policy issues that need to be worked out to ensure the Air Force has the same mission data files as its partners. Harrigian spent the last couple of years as director of the F-35 integration office and was confirmed by the Senate late Wednesday.

Harrigian described mission data files as a library of threats that help inform F-35 operators on everything from how the aircraft is performing against a certain threat to when to deploy weapons. These files, he said, inform the Air Force when it shares data across, or out of, formation. Harrigian said mission data files were known as threat data sets on the F-22.

Harrigian said the Air Force has struggled with how to get data off the F-35 and, specifically, which data to share, how much to share and who should receive the data. He said the service needs to figure out how to get the data off the aircraft and into a cloud-based architecture so it can be shared throughout the force. But first, Harrigian said the Air Force needs to ensure it gets the F-35’s data links right.

“Data is inherent to the airplane,” Harrigian told an audience at an Air Force Association (AFA) even in Arlington, Va. “We have to figure out how to move it.”

The Air Force is racing towards its August-December IOC window, a critical milestone in the F-35’s development. The service can declare IOC when the first operational squadron is equipped with 12-24 aircraft and airmen are trained, manned and equipped to conduct a number of tasks. These include basic close air support, interdiction and limited suppression and destruction of enemy air defense operations in a contested environment.

Harrigian said later in July Air Combat Command (ACC) chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle will meet with new Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein to discuss whether the F-35A is ready for IOC. Like Harrigian, Goldfein was confirmed by the Senate as chief of staff late Wednesday. Goldfein’s last position was as vice chief of staff.

Harrigian said in a recent test the F-35 went 88-for-88 in sorties and went 15-for-16 with bombs, with the one miss due to a bomb problem. Harrigian also downplayed recent problems with the F-35’s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) as a “non-issue” leading up to IOC.

“I’m feeling very positive about it,” Harrigian said. “I think there’s a lot of confidence, not only in the airplane but in our airmen to deliver that mission.”

The Navy announced late Thursday it awarded F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] a fixed-price-incentive (firm target) contract worth as much as $323 million for mission data file work. Lockheed Martin will develop a laboratory providing an integrated reprogramming capability to build, test, modify and deliver mission data files. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC].